uivalent to
the modern 'Disregard the flagship's movements.' So Drake dowsed his
stern light, went about, overhauled the strangers, and found they were
bewildered German merchantmen. He had just gone about once more to
resume his own station when suddenly a Spanish flagship loomed up beside
his own flagship the _Revenge_. Drake immediately had his pinnace
lowered away to demand instant surrender. But the Spanish admiral was
Don Pedro de Valdes, a very gallant commander and a very proud grandee,
who demanded terms; and, though his flagship (which had been in
collision with a run-amuck) seemed likely to sink, he was quite ready to
go down fighting. Yet the moment he heard that his summoner was Drake he
surrendered at discretion, feeling it a personal honor, according to the
ideas of the age, to yield his sword to the greatest seaman in the
world. With forty officers he saluted Drake, complimenting him on
'valour and felicity so great that Mars and Neptune seemed to attend
him, as also on his generosity towards the fallen foe, a quality often
experienced by the Spaniards; whereupon,' adds this eyewitness, 'Sir
Francis Drake, requiting his Spanish compliments with honest English
courtesies, placed him at his own table and lodged him in his own
cabin.' Drake's enemies at home accused him of having deserted his fleet
to capture a treasure ship--for there was a good deal of gold with
Valdes. But the charge was quite unfounded.

A very different charge against Howard had more foundation. The Armada
had anchored at Calais to get its breath before running the gauntlet for
the last time and joining Parma in the Netherlands. But in the dead of
night, when the flood was making and a strong west wind was blowing in
the same direction as the swirling tidal stream, nine English fire-ships
suddenly burst into flame and made for the Spanish anchorage. There were
no boats ready to grapple the fire-ships and tow them clear. There was
no time to weigh; for every vessel had two anchors down. Sidonia,
enraged that the boats were not out on patrol, gave the order for the
whole fleet to cut their cables and make off for their lives. As the
great lumbering hulls, which had of course been riding head to wind,
swung round in the dark and confusion, several crashing collisions
occurred. Next morning the Armada was strung along the Flemish coast in
disorderly flight. Seeing the impossibility of bringing the leewardly
vessels back against the wind in